I’m about to apologize for being so harsh but Bear puts in her headphones and starts to draw. I leave her be, knowing that she doesn’t like me watching her as she draws. I’m in the middle of texting Liam when I hear a frustrated growl from Bear. I look over to see her slam her sketch book shut, the seat beside her littered with eraser shavings. She puts the book back inside her bag and tucks her knees up. She leans her head against the window and within minutes, she’s back asleep.
I dare to slide myself beside her, my arms tightening around her waist. I see her iPhone in her lap and I carefully get it. There is no lock to get it and when the screen opens up, I see that her music app is open. I smile a bit when I see that she’s listening to our song ‘Moments’ on repeat. Without turning off the music, I return to her home screen and open up her contacts list. I feel bad, sneaking around her phone while she’s asleep, but I need to make sure Bear is okay. Finding Lucy’s (her mom) and Dr.Santana’s (her doctor) numbers, I enter them into my own phone and put the music app back on.
I return the phone to Bear’s lap, making it look like nothing happened. I immediately start to text my two newest contacts, telling them what happened. Ms.Trenton agrees with me that Bear should go to the doctors and Dr.Santana helps me schedule an appointment for tomorrow at 10 AM as well as a few tips. She suggests a hot bath, a vapor rub, and several cups of tea. I thank both of them as we pull up to my flat in London. I pay the drive and quickly bring our bags to the front door. I run back to Bear’s side of the cab and carefully open the door, making sure she doesn’t fall out. I pick her up bridal style in my arms and close the door with my foot.
When we get inside, I immediately take Bear to my bedroom and lay her down on the bed as I rush to bring everything inside and secure the front door. After I finish emptying my suitcase, I lay down beside Bear in the bed. Her headphones are still in and I carefully take her phone from her stomach. Nervous of what her reaction will be, I pause the song and take time removing the headphones from her ears.
Thankfully, she's still asleep. With a relaxed sigh, I lay my head back down and look at the ceiling, already feeling my eyes becoming hooded. My eyes pop back open a second after they close though, a presence hovering over me. Bear's face is than an inch away from mine and her face is serious.
"You turned off my music." She says and her eyes look as hard and cold as ice.
"I did. I thought you might want to hear it live." I say cheekily before singing my solo in 'Moments'. Bear eyes lighten and a smile dances on her cheeks, her anger obviously gone.
"It's a good thing you're cute, Styles." Bear says before kissing my cheek. She starts to roll off me but I keep her in place by holding onto her hips tightly.
"Not as cute as you." I say cheekily before kissing her.
"I'm not too sure about that." Bear smiles through the kiss.
I let out a small noise of protest as I grab the back of Bear's knee and pull it farther up beside me. I notice that Bear's breath is already uneven, even though we've only been kissing for few seconds. Then I remember. She's sick. I break the kiss quickly and Bear just looks at me with a disappointed face.
"Well I thought that was going somewhere else..." She says dully. I quickly flip us over an hover over her while keeping one hand behind her back.
"This is somewhere else." I say cheekily and Bear shakes her head.
"Lost your chance, babe." Bear jokes as she ruffles up my hair.
"Oh, so you're allowed to call me 'babe' but I can't." I growl playfully through gritted teeth, pulling Bear against me.
"No, you can't. I mainly call you 'Harry', so I think you can forgive me for the few times I call you something different." Bear says while holding onto the back of my neck, her words stern but her eyes soft.
"I'll always forgive you." I say softly and Bear smiles.
She's about to kiss me but I lay her down on the bed. With a smile, Bear slides out from underneath me and leaves my bedroom. I follow her out and find her sitting on the. couch with her sketch book on her lap. I go sit beside her and when she pulls the sketch book away from my sight, I look at the TV to see that Doctor Who is playing.
We do our usual "say comments to each other while we're watching something" except Bear takes turns between watching and drawing. During a quiet moment in the show, I hear Bear's heavy breathing. I look over at her and see that she doesn't even seem to notice that her breathing is uneven.
"Do you want a cup of tea?" Bear asks while finishing up something that she's drawing. She looks up to see already looking at her and she smiles big.
"Yeah, sure, I'll go make us some." I say while getting off the couch.
I kiss Bear quickly and start to walk to the kitchen, looking over my shoulder to see Bear watching me surprised. In the kitchen, I put on the tea kettle and start to prep our cups. I set up my cup normally but put herbal tea in Bear's, it'll have greater effect. I put the same amount of milk and sugar in, hoping that she won't notice, even though I know she will. So when Bear sips her tea and gives me a questioning look, I'm not surprised.
"You don't like it, do you?" I say, faking to be disappointed.
"No, no. It's not that I don't like it... Just different. It's not bad though. Thank you." Bear backtracks quickly, holding my hand and smiling kindly.
I didn't like lying to her. Not at all. But it was only way I could help her get better. And Bear had no idea. I held her like I normally did when I was next to her and now I could feel it. Her chest barely moved at all when she breathed. I would kiss her instead of talk to her so she wouldn't waste her breath. But as our tea cups emptied, I could tell Bear was getting more and more suspicious.
"Thanks, that tea was really good." Bear smiles while placing her empty tea cup on the table. One task down, two more to go.
"I'm glad you liked it. How does a hot bath sound?" I say after placing my own empty tea cup on the table beside Bear's.
"Alone? Or are you being cheeky?" Bear asks with a small smile. I smile and lean over her until she's laying down and I'm hovering over her.
"I'll be whatever you want me to be." I whisper and our breath mingles.
"Alone, please." Bear says shyly before kissing me quickly. She starts to slip out from under me but I hold her still, kissing her longer. I smile as I break the kiss and get off of her.
"I'll go set it up for you." I say, turning towards my room.
I turn on the warm water and wait for the bathtub to fill up as I put bubbles inside. I'm about to call Bear inside but when I look towards the doorway, I see Bear leaning against the door frame with her arms across her chest and looking at me curiously.
"You're being so helpful all of the sudden.. It's not bad, just different." Bear comments as I walk over and put my hand on her hips.
"What, I can't spoil my girl? Get in and relax. I'll be back in a bit." I say, press a soft kiss to Bear's forehead.
I spin around her close the door behind me after Bear goes inside and I head back into the living room. I take our empty cups to the kitchen to wash them and go to my hall closet that holds random, yet helpful, items. After spending some time searching the shelves, I find a container of vapor rub and a small bedside humidifier. I keep the humidifier at the bottom of the closet but take the vapor rub with me as I walk back to my room.
